10 Songs I Never Want to Forget
by Angie J Trifid
Summary: There are ten songs Coraline never wants to forget. Each song has a special meaning for her, because each reminds her of a moment in time that will always have a special place in her heart. My first Coraline fic, some CxW and some CxOW
1. Angel

**A/N: Howdy! I don't own **_**Coraline**_** *sniff*.**

**I think it's obvious that I shouldn't be allowed to watch movies and listen to music at the same time. Or at points in time that are near each other. In this case, the movie was **_**Coraline**_** and the song was **_**Angel**_** by Sarah McLachlan. I probably shouldn't come up with my own titles either, cuz they always suck**

**How I manage to hate romance, or romance-y-type situations, and yet write/read/draw it without a second thought is something I don't think I'll ever be able to figure out… this isn't supposed to be a hugely romance-y situation though… just slightly**

**So… song one…**

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><p><strong>Song One: Angel<strong>

Coraline ran into her room – if it was even that – and hid away anything that spoke. The picture of her friends; all her toys. She locked the bedroom door, barricaded it, jumped into bed and threw the covers over herself.

"Go to sleep," she kept telling herself. "Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep…"

Coraline was sure that, like the previous two nights, she would wake up in her own bed, in her own World. The real one.

"Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep…"

However, sleep was evading Coraline. The more she tried to force herself to sleep, the more frightened she grew. The more frightened she grew, the less sleepy she became. And the less sleepy she became, and more she tried to force herself to sleep.

Coraline was terrified of this world and its (literally) button-eyed occupants. The Others. Other Mom. Other Dad. Other Mr B. Other Ms Spink. Other Ms Forcible. Other – Other Wybie…

No, that part was a lie. Other Wybie wasn't scary. Normal Wybie – the one who could talk and had real eyes – he was a bit weird, admittedly. But not even his button-eyed, silent (thanks to the Other Mother 'fixing' him) counterpart from this World was scary. He'd given her a rose, after all… sort of.

Aw man! Coraline realised she didn't have the rose with her. She must've dropped it outside the house. Coraline frowned. Really, she felt that she could be so damn stupid sometimes. And the Other Wybie – the one from this World – was so nice to her, too. There was always a smile on his copper-skinned face, and his dark, curly hair never had moss or twigs or leaves in it (unlike the hair of the Wybie in _her_ World).

Damn it, this wasn't helping! She was supposed to be trying to sleep. And instead she was curled up here, thinking about Wybie. She needed to sleep. But she couldn't.

Coraline froze as she heard a noise from outside her room.

It was a light tapping sound. The Other Mother trying to get in, perhaps?

The tapping sound, though, was coming from the window. Was it the cat? Perhaps she should let him in.

The cat was the only one, apart from Coraline, who wasn't an 'Other anything', as he had put it. He and Coraline both came from the same World, entering through a portal. The cat – who could somehow talk like a human in this World – was completely black, with blue eyes. He was supposed to be feral, but the Wybie from the World Coraline came from looked after the cat like a pet.

_If the cat wants to come in,_ Coraline thought to herself, _I should let him in._

She threw back the covers and nearly screamed a little in shock when she looked at the window. Nearly. She managed not to.

Coraline hadn't been expecting to see the button-eyed Wybie crouching on the roof of the old house, tapping lightly on the window with his gloved knuckles. Coraline hesitated for a moment, but she decided to open the heavy window and let him in. He climbed quietly inside and stood in the middle of the room, slouching a little, like his human counterpart, looking perfectly in place with his dark clothes, in the dark room that was barely just lit by the light of the full moon. His face was thrown into shadow by his hair, his too-big black coat practically covered his entire body and he scuffed the wooden floor awkwardly with the toe of one of his green sneakers.

Coraline cocked her head to the side enquiringly and he produced a rose from under his coat and offered it to her. Coraline felt certain it was the same rose she must have dropped earlier.

"Thanks, Wybie," she said quietly, smiling at him. She couldn't tell, but she thought he smiled back. Coraline watched as Wybie carefully twisted the stem of the rose until it broke, then gently tucked the now short-stemmed rose behind her ear, moving her short blue hair out of her face. Coraline smiled again. Then she yawned and stretched and lay back down on her bed. Wybie sat next to her, and this time she could see his face.

"Stay here until I fall asleep, okay?" Coraline whispered. Wybie smiled and nodded, stroking her hair gently.

"I can't stay here," she muttered to herself. "I have to go home and I can't come back." Then she looked up at Wybie.

He was still stroking her hair absent-mindedly, staring contentedly out the window now. He turned to face her when he felt her move. He looked happy and sad at the same time, which was the way he felt. If Coraline left then he'd never see her again, but also… she'd be safe. For a while.

Wybie sighed darkly at the thought that the cute blue-haired, brown-eyed girl wouldn't be safe for long, the ever-present smile disappearing from his face. He knew the 'Mother' – the Beldam, as she was really called – had the power to do terrible things, and he would be the target of them if he protected Coraline. But this had gone on for too long; he'd known it for a long time. He didn't want to help that evil woman – if that was even what she was – to hurt people any more. Each child's death hung over his head day and night, a constant reminder of what he was helping to happen, and it made him feel directly responsible. He was a puppet – a toy, in a way – but as the Beldam had gained in strength, so had her two most important 'little helpers', as she so often called them: himself, and the Other Father. They had developed thoughts and consciences; ideas and feelings; likes and dislikes and strengths. They had developed life.

But they were still useless outside of this world. Wybie was the second most powerful, in a way, if you counted the Beldam as well. He had the most strength of all the Beldam's creations. He had neither the power nor the strength required to put up a good fight against his creator, but he had the resolve now to stop her from hurting anybody else. In this case, Coraline.

The only problem was that, if the Beldam found out, he probably wouldn't be around to help the next person out. He sighed darkly again.

Coraline knew something was wrong. Assuming she had upset Other Wybie by telling him that she wouldn't be back, Coraline mentally cursed for not keeping her big mouth shut. "Oh Wybie," she whispered, sitting up and hugging him. "I'm sorry." Coraline felt Wybie's body stiffen in surprise at her sudden embrace, but then he relaxed again and gently put a hand on her back.

"…_Coraline…_"

Coraline gasped and pulled back. She could've sworn she'd just heard Wybie say her name, heard it like a faint whisper. But _this_ Wybie couldn't talk.

"…_Coraline…_"

There it was again. But the button-eyed boy's lips hadn't moved. "What was that?" she asked quietly, shaking her head to clear out the voices. Meanwhile, Wybie reached into his coat again and held out a heavy glass orb about the size of his palm: a crystal ball. White mist swirled inside it and a figure seemed to stand in the middle.

Coraline peered at the figure, fascinated, leaning in to get a closer look. Wybie held the orb with the swirling mist at about eye-level. The figure came into focus.

He was about eleven, with dark skin and a wide mouth. His dark, curly hair had moss and bits of twigs and leaves in it, like always; his black coat hung down and covered his skinny figure. He could've been tall, but he was slouching so much it was nearly impossible to tell. His dark eyebrows were pulled together, his hazel eyes filled with worry, and he was wringing his hands nervously. As Coraline and the button-eyed Wybie watched, it felt like the mist inside the crystal ball was engulfing them, until they stood beside the Wybie from Coraline's World, watching as the mist slowly faded into the kitchen of Coraline's home.

Wybie – the Wybie with human eyes – was standing awkwardly next to the door. Coraline's real mom was sitting at the kitchen table, with her face buried in her hands. She seemed to be crying. Coraline's real dad was kneeling next to her. It looked like he was trying to console her.

Coraline and the button-eyed Wybie could hear the scene as though through a window. All the sound was muffled and it was difficult to hear anything.

"…_all my fault…_" Real Mom was sobbing.

"I_t's not,_" Real Dad told her.

"…_Coraline…_"

That was Real Wybie again. His voice was a sad, faint whisper, like he was saying it to himself. His eyes turned to the floor and he turned to go. Real Dad caught his arm. "_Do you know where she could've gone?_"

Real Wybie rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "_I-I'm not supposed to talk about it, but… my Gramma said her twin sister who went missing kept talking about this Other Mother… said she lived inside a little bricked-up door in the wall._"

Real Mom and Real Dad gasped. Coraline had been talking about the Other Mother _and_ the door in the wall.

Coraline and Other Wybie were snapped out of the scene when she flung her arms around him, crying. She wanted to go back home again. She wanted to see her parents again. She wanted to hug them and tell them everything was alright. The button-eyed boy put his arms around Coraline and patted her back, trying to make her feel better. He hated it when the kids from her World cried. It always made him feel guilty. It also always came after the buttons were sewn onto their eyes. The Beldam would leave them to rot in that room inside the mirror while their lives were drained away, and they would cry. But it was always worse when they stopped crying. When the kids stopped crying, it was always a sign that their entire lives had been eaten away… they weren't alive any more.

It was a long time before Coraline could stop crying. Finally she managed to stop herself, but she still sniffled a little. She was tired now, and her head hurt from all that crying. She wanted to sleep. And Wybie's arms were so warm… and he was holding her so gently, like she could break at any minute. She felt his lips brush against her forehead, just for a second.

Coraline felt something she hadn't felt from her Other mother. For the first time since entering this World, Coraline felt loved. It was strange, feeling loved by Other Wybie, because she barely knew him. But right now, it was something she _needed_ to feel.

Coraline soon fell asleep. In her dream, she flew out the window of the room and back home, back to her family…

* * *

><p>When Coraline woke up, she looked around, feeling disappointed. She was in her bedroom, yes, but not in her own World. She found herself lying down in bed, the covers tucked in around her. Wybie wasn't there, but her window was open again. She got up shut the window, un-barricaded her door and crept downstairs, towards the room with the little door that led back to her World. But the door to the room was locked.<p>

Coraline chose to tip-toe through the house, until she found her Other father, playing the same dull note repeatedly on his piano. He looked pale and tired. Something was wrong…

* * *

><p>When she heard the song playing on the radio, Coraline turned the sound up, closed her eyes and began to sway to the music. Rain pitter-pattered down the windows and onto the roof of the car and the signal was a little fuzzy. She shivered a little and Wybie put the heating on.<p>

It had only been a couple of weeks since Coraline and Wybie had defeated the Beldam. But in that time Wybie and Coraline had become good friends. Best friends, really. And soon school would start again and Wybie had already offered to show Coraline around. But today they just sat in the car, which Wybie was already calling _his_ car, keeping out of the rain.

Coraline had laughed at Wybie that morning. "Wanna see my car?" he'd asked. Coraline had punched him playfully in the shoulder and replied, "You don't have a car. You're eleven."

"So? My Gramma said I could take it to pieces and build something. She just got a new one so she gave me her old car."

Coraline couldn't much see the point of a car you couldn't drive, but Wybie seemed enthusiastic enough, and besides, she liked spending time with him, so they'd gone over to Wybie's house, Coraline on foot; Wybie on his self-made electric bike beside her. The walk might've taken less time but there was no extra seat on the bike, and Coraline wasn't about to sit on the handlebars. The only problem was that it had started raining. Abandoning the bike against the wall of the house, they had made a dash for the car and shut themselves in. Wybie had promised right then and there to use an axel from the car to make pegs for the back wheel of his bike, so Coraline could stand on those and next time, they'd make it quicker – hopefully, he had joked, _before_ it started raining.

"Sarah McLachlan?" Wybie smirked, pulling Coraline out of her train of thought.

"What?"

"Nothing," Wybie chuckled. "I-I just never really pegged you as a Sarah McLachlan fan."

Coraline laughed. She didn't, either, to be honest. But the song reminded her of that night when the Other Wybie had comforted her, and she found herself singing along.

_In the arms of the angel,_

_Fly away from here…_

_From this dark, cold hotel room,_

_And the emptiness that you fear…_

Oh yes, he had been her guardian angel that night, right when she needed him the most.

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><p><strong>AN: Ugh, cheesy chapter was cheesy. I say again: ugh**

**That was a bit of a weird chappie… I was nearly asleep when I thought of it. You wouldn't believe how boring it is when you can't sleep.**

**Next song: **_**Everything I Do **_**by Bryan Adams**


	2. Everthing I Do

**A/N: Howdy! I don't own **_**Coraline**_** *sniff*.**

**CoraRoz: Aww, thankies! Sadly it's not all gonna be in exact order cuz I'll probably think of different chappies at different times but ah well**

**SakuraXxXIchigo: Yay, thankies ^^ and if you ever get the chance, I HIGHLY recommend the movie**

**Ashefurby1313: Thanks so much, that really means a lot to me!**

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><p><strong>Song Two: Everything I Do<strong>

"Coraline, hold still," Coraline's mother complained.

Coraline was fidgeting with the itchy collar of her hideous, grey school jacket and shifting in her uncomfortable shoes and adjusting her horrible skirt. There was a white blouse underneath the jacket and she didn't like that much either, but even though it turned see-through in the rain, it was better than the rest of her uniform. Coraline would've preferred to wear trousers and a sweater over the blouse instead of the skirt and jacket, but oh well.

Next to her stood her best friend, Wybourne Lovat, an awkward kid who always slouched and had dark skin, curly dark hair that always had twigs or moss or leaves or something in it, a wide mouth and hazel eyes. Coraline had laughed herself silly at him when he'd turned up this morning in his school shirt, jacket and trousers (which fit him, something she wasn't used to). He'd even managed to get most of the stuff out of his hair. He'd laughed himself silly at the sight of her, but it was worth it.

And now they were standing in the kitchen, side-by-side, waiting for Coraline's mom to take the goddamn photo.

"Coraline!" Mom snapped, when she reached up to get the collar away from her neck again. Coraline groaned and let her hands drop to her sides again. "Could you stand up straight please, Wybie?" Mom asked him.

_Typical,_ Coraline thought bitterly. Parents were always nicer to other people's kids than their own. And then Wybie straightened up.

Coraline nearly staggered into the table. God, Wybie was _tall_. Taller than _her_. Only by a couple inches, maybe a few, but still…

"Coraline, look at the camera," Mom complained.

"Geez," Coraline rolled her eyes and looked at the camera.

"Smile!"

Coraline tried to smile but it turned into a grimace.

"Coraline!"

Coraline heard Wybie snicker and made a mental note to punch him in the arm later. Luckily Dad snuck up behind Mom and pulled faces at the eleven-year-olds to make them both laugh, so Mom could take the picture.

Once the shutters had clicked, Wybie automatically relaxed back into his slouch again, Coraline was once more fidgeting with her clothes and Mom and Dad were cooing over Coraline's 'first day at a new school' photo.

"Don't they look so cute together?"

"_Mom!_" Coraline complained, embarrassed.

"Yeah, they do."

"_Dad!_"

Wybie was edging out of the kitchen. "Well, it was great seeing you again," he told Coraline's parents. "But we gotta get to school now."

"Oh, can we give you a ride to the bus?" Mom asked.

"We're taking Wybie's bike," Coraline said, trying to get away from her parents the second she could. Ever since they'd found out that Coraline's first friend here was a boy, they'd been annoying the hell out of her. Dad was a bit protective sometimes, but for now he was only joking about, as Mom reassured Coraline. It was the 'for now' that worried her.

"You take good care of my little girl, Wybourne Lovat," Dad teased. Coraline groaned again.

"I will, Mr Jones," Wybie said, shaking Dad's hand and playing along.

"Guys, will you just stop it?" Coraline asked. Her parents fell silent and Coraline and Wybie walked out the door with their school bags. Following the kids onto the porch, Mom clicked the camera repeatedly and Coraline and Wybie slung their bags onto their backs and picked up their 'helmets'. Wybie's helmet was a welding mask with a slightly skeletal face painted on it and three rotatable eyes which sometimes glowed green and worked like giant microscope lenses, turning with the use of a crank on the right-hand side. Coraline's helmet was another welding mask. Wybie had managed to find it and they had virtually attacked the thing with paintbrushes, until it was a mess of colours designed to look like a four-year-old had coloured a line-art of her face. It was orange, instead of her pale skin, with neon-pink eyes painted instead of brown, a yellow mouth, bright green freckles and purple hair instead of her short blue hair.

"Hold on," said Mom, before they could put the welding masks down over their faces. Wybie was already sitting on his handmade bike, and Coraline was standing behind the bike with her hands on his shoulders, waiting to place her feet on the pegs (which Wybie had fashioned out of an axel from the old car his grandmother had given him to take apart if he wanted) when the electric bike took off.

Mom snapped another picture and she and Dad cooed over it. Coraline and Wybie rolled their eyes at each other. Wybie started the bike and Coraline hopped up onto the pegs.

"Have her back by ten!" Mom called as they took off. Coraline groaned loudly once more.

"You know Jonesy," Wybie said, using his nickname for Coraline. "I always thought your mom was a grouch."

"She's lightened up since she got the neck brace off," Coraline replied.

"Oh."

The countryside went whizzing past, quickly giving way to the streets of Ashland, Oregon. Coraline hadn't known what people would make of the pair of them racing through town with their painted welding masks on, but apparently nobody thought anything of it. Some people in Shakespeare costumes waved to Wybie as if a kid with a creepy mask and another kid with a weird version of her face painted onto a mask riding a bike was the most normal thing they'd ever seen.

Wybie stopped outside a small convenience store and dismounted the bike, lifting his mask up. Coraline did the same.

"What're we doing _here_, Wybie?" she asked, crossing her arms. "Aren't we supposed to be going to _school_?"

"Well, yeah," he agreed, leading her into the store and over to an open refrigerator full of sandwiches. "But my Gramma doesn't make lunch for me, and I'm guessing you didn't decide to get any from your parents, either."

It was true. Coraline's father was a terrible cook, and her mom almost never cooked. Generally she didn't have the time, but when she _did_ cook, it was pretty good. She always complained about the cooking in her family to Wybie, and he was right: she _hadn't_ asked her parents to make any lunch for her. "I just figured I'd get a school lunch," she shrugged.

Wybie burst out laughing. "Are you kidding me? Even the _teachers_ won't eat that stuff!"

"It can't be any worse than my dad's cooking."

Wybie, who had never eaten Charlie Jones's cooking, said, "Trust me, it's the _worst_ stuff you'll _ever_ have to eat."

Coraline sighed. She could see she wouldn't convince Wybie of anything unless he actually ate her dad's cooking, so she grabbed a sandwich and followed Wybie to the checkout. They paid for the sandwiches and stepped outside, Coraline making a mental note to invite Wybie over for dinner sometime. Oh, and while she was on the subject of future ways to torture Wybie, there was something she'd forgotten…

"OW!" Wybie yelled, rubbing his arm where she'd punched him. "What was that for?"

"For laughing at me earlier," Coraline told him. "And for going along with my parents' jokes."

"Sorry Jonesy," he said, mounting his bike again and pulling his mask down, so that his voice was muffled. "I just thought I might be able to get outta there quicker if I did."

Coraline rolled her eyes and they took off again.

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><p>They reached the school. Wybie chained his bike to a rail and lead Coraline to reception to get her new timetable, and a slip of paper to give to her teachers. Coraline was pleased to see that their timetables matched up exactly because she didn't know anyone else, or where she was going.<p>

History was first lesson. Coraline wasn't exactly the best at history, but after what had happened just after she'd moved in, Coraline felt like she could face anything. Of course, that wasn't to say that she was all too pleased at being made to stand at the front and introduce herself in every class.

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><p>When lunchtime finally rolled around, Coraline and Wybie grabbed a table at the back of the cafeteria, slung their jackets on the backs of their chairs and started eating and making jokes about the teachers. They were enjoying their lunch, until…<p>

"Hey look, it's Why-were-you-born Lovat."

The speaker with the dark voice hadn't said it in a playful manner, like Coraline always did when she took the mickey of Wybie's name. They meant to be hurtful. Wybie stiffened, terrified.

"H-h-hey, Nick."

The guy Wybie had called Nick loomed over the pair of them like some kind of attempt at King Kong, only many times more horrible, and with far less muscles.

"You didn't pay up today, Lovat," said the guy. "I told you before. Either you give me twenty dollars or you're dead."

"Wybie, what's this guy talking about?" asked Coraline. "Why do you have to give him twenty bucks?"

"Cuz I said so, that's why!" the guy said.

Coraline pretended to think about it. "You know what, Wybie? You shouldn't give him the money."

"Oh yeah?" the guy Nick said threateningly. "And what're you gonna do about it?"

"I'm not gonna let you get away with it, that's for sure," Coraline said.

The guy Nick smirked and took a threatening step towards her. In a flash, Wybie was between the two of them, facing the guy Nick, standing at his full height again. Coraline could see that Wybie's arms were tense, his hands curled into tight fists… in fact, all his muscles seems to be tense. She didn't know about his legs, but the school shirts were slightly see-through without the help of the rain, and she could see the tense muscles all up his back and neck.

"Don't touch her," Wybie said. Something about his tone of voice scared Coraline. It was almost like a low growl, and sounded extremely defensive. Coraline didn't know this side of Wybie, even though she'd seen a protective, caring, slightly _romantic_ side of him – sort of. It hadn't been this Wybie. It was the Other Wybie… but that was a part of her past she didn't like to bring up around anybody but Wybie and the cat, because they were the only two who believed her. _Or_ understood why it upset her so much – well, in the cat's case, anyways; Wybie didn't know _why_ Other Wybie was an upsetting subject for Coraline… he just knew not to talk about the button-eyed version of himself.

Coraline was jerked out of her thoughts when Wybie's body slammed into her. The guy Nick had punched him in the face and he'd stumbled backwards. Wybie was pretty light and Coraline managed to stay on her feet and push him back up, too.

"You're pathetic," the guy Nick snarled, punching Wybie in the face again and pushing him to the ground. "Can't take a punch."

Wybie's lip and nose were bleeding and he had a slightly swollen eye.

Coraline stared at the guy Nick. Suddenly she realised what was wrong about him. He was tall and skinny – almost skeletal – and pale, with dark hair and sharp facial features, and dark, round eyes, almost like buttons. He reminded Coraline of the Other Mother, who had hurt her Other Wybie and, eventually, killed him.

Well, Coraline wasn't going to let that – or anything similar – happen ever again. She stepped towards the guy Nick and glared at him hard, unblinking.

"What?" the guy Nick demanded.

Coraline curled her hands into fists. "I told you," she said. "I told you, I'm not gonna let you get away with it." And she sunk her fist into his gut.

"Coraline!" Wybie hissed. "What're you doing?"

But now she was hitting the guy Nick again. And again. It felt good. Nearly as good as if it really _was_ the Other Mother she was punching. The guy Nick was trying to fight back but he couldn't, she was too strong, and now she –

"Jones!" a teacher yelled. "What are you doing?"

* * *

><p>"You got so lucky not to get detention, Jonesy."<p>

"Liar. I got lucky I wasn't _expelled_."

Wybie laughed. "That's true. You nearly _killed_ that guy. I'm just sorry you didn't."

"Eh. I was having an off day. And besides, I –" Coraline stopped herself before she could say "shoulda done it before". Meaning to save the Other Wybie.

"Don't worry about it, Jonesy." _This_ Wybie knew she had stopped herself talking about the Others. He could tell.

"I owe you," Coraline said to him. But it was the way she said it that made him feel like she didn't mean _this_ him.

She meant another him.

**A/N: Long wait was long. Sorry guys**

**Next song: **_**Courage**_** by Superchick**


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